Letters from Jo'burg

In 23 november 1889 the "ancestor" of the modern jukebox made his debut in San Francisco . The Nickel-in-the-Slot machine was placed at the Royale Palais Saloon. This event is so distant in time that one might think that inside the machine there was a slavelike musician who played tunes on request. Actually it was a coin-operated Edison phonograph with no amplification. To hear the music people had to use one of four listening tubes. In its first six months of service, the Nickel-in-the-slot machine earned over 1000 dollars, marking the beginning of the music industry as we know it. At that time America was really avant-garde.